I Heart Santa Claus
by Jemi Obsessed
Summary: She wasn’t supposed to fall for a guy who dressed up like Santa Claus. But somehow, she was. Smitchie!


**a/n: Merry Christmas Eve! I might not get a story up for Christmas tomorrow, so I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas! Enjoy!**

I HEART SANTA CLAUS

Mitchie Torres-Gray smiled as her family chatted and exchanged presents underneath the tree.

Her sister, Amelia, was on the couch with Emma, Mitchie's daughter.

"Spying on everyone?"

Mitchie turned around and smiled at her husband of eight years, Shane Gray. "Not exactly. Just my know-it-all sister and our mischievous daughter."

"She is not mischievous! Sure she broke several lamps in one day and blamed the dog, but she is not mischievous."

"Whatever you say, dear."

"Don't call me that, it makes me sound old." Shane huffed and crossed his arms.

"Don't worry, you won't ever seem old until you are. Or are you still going to act two when you're eighty?" Mitchie grinned and patted his cheek. She headed over to the couch and sat next to Emma, leaving room for Shane on the end.

Shane came in like an airplane, no really, and swept Emma off the couch and into his lap as he sat down. "Hey, Emma bear, whatcha up to?"

"Auntie Amelia was about to tell me a story."

"Oh really?" Shane looked expectantly at his sister-in-law.

Amelia smiled. "I was going to tell her how you two met."

Mitchie and Shane shared a smile and Mitchie laughed. "Go on with the story, Auntie Amelia."

"Okay…nine years ago…"

* * *

"_Amelia! Wait up! You know I can't run that fast!" Mitchie stopped and gasped for breath. "I thought a ten year old would know that Santa isn't real."_

_She caught up with her little sister as they stood in the back of the very long line for Santa Claus. "Amelia, are you sure you want to do this? Wouldn't you rather go shopping in Justice or something?"_

"_No! I'm sitting on Santa's lap and telling him what I want for Christmas whether you like it or not! And Mom said you have to stay with me, so ha!"_

_Mitchie rolled her eyes and dug her cell phone out of her pocket. She dialed her best friend's number and waited patiently for her to pick up._

"_Hello?"_

"_Caitlyn, thank God. Do you want to know where I am right now?"_

"_Well, it sounds like you're at the mall, but you don't sound happy, so…"_

"_I'm in line waiting for Santa with Amelia."_

"_Oh, yeah, that's not good, Mitch. Nineteen year old standing in line waiting for Santa? Couldn't you have waited in the food court or something?"_

"_No, my mother said I couldn't leave Amelia's side."_

"_Bummer. Oh, I gotta go, Nate's here."_

"_Fine. Bye."_

"_Later."_

_As Mitchie put her phone back in her purse, Amelia started sniffling. "Mitchie…do you hate me?"_

_Mitchie sighed. "No, Amelia, I don't hate you. I just really don't want to be here right now."_

"_We used to have fun together. What happened to you?"_

"_Nothing. Oh look, we're next."_

_As Amelia ran to the smiling Santa, Mitchie raised her eyebrow. She was no Santa believer, but this 'Santa' did not look the part. He was thin and young, with an obvious fake beard._

"_Ho, ho, ho! What's your name?"_

_Mitchie cracked a smile as Amelia introduced herself and sat on his lap. Maybe she wasn't the only lunatic here._

"_And what do you want for Christmas, Amelia?"_

_Her little sister leaned forward and whispered in his ear. He pulled back with a confused expression. _

"_Why is that?"_

_Amelia leaned forward again and this time he smiled, but Mitchie could tell it wasn't a happy smile, it was a sad one._

"_I'll try my best. How about a picture?"_

"_Okay. Mitchie! Can you be in the picture?"_

_Mitchie bit her lip and walked over to where her sister was comfortable on Santa's lap. She smiled as the flash went off, then put on her straight face as Amelia hopped off the Santa's lap and ran off. She paid for the photo and ran after Amelia._

"_Amelia! Where are you going?"_

"_Bathroom! I'll be right out."_

"_Just hurry up." She pulled out her cell phone and started texting someone random._

"_Hey."_

_She looked up and raised her eyebrow. "Um, hey." A tall, raven-haired young man was standing in front of her, smiling. "Oh, you're Santa." She snorted and placed her attention back on the phone._

"_You bet I am. But I'm not here to talk about that. Do you want to know what your little sister asked for?"_

"_What?" Oops, she didn't mean to sound that nasty._

"_She asked for her old sister back."_

"_Why?"_

"_Because, I quote, 'She never is nice to me anymore, she's always being mean to me. Mommy said she grew up, but I know my old sister is there somewhere. I just want her back.' Look at me in the eye and tell me that doesn't make you feel bad."_

_Mitchie looked into his eyes and felt a comfort there. She shrugged it off and smiled sadly. "I guess I got pulled into popularity. I'll try to be nicer."_

"_I'm glad. I haven't properly introduced myself. I'm Shane, Shane Gray." He extended his hand._

"_Mitchie. Mitchie Torres." She accepted his hand and pulled away immediately after a huge electric shock went through her arm. "Well, um, do you want to grab some lunch with us? I mean, if you don't have to go back to Santa duty."_

"_No, I'm done for the day. Where do you want to go?"_

"_Anywhere." Amelia came out of the bathroom. "Oh, hey, Amelia, this is Shane, he's going to join us for lunch, okay?"_

_Amelia smiled. "Yeah, sure! Where are we going?"_

"_How about you choose?"_

"_Arby's."_

"_Arby's it is. You okay with that, Shane?"_

"_Yeah, sure." He smiled at Mitchie and Mitchie smiled a true smile back. Oh boy, she wasn't supposed to fall for a guy who dressed up like Santa Claus. But somehow, she was._

* * *

"And then Mommy and Daddy started dating and a year later, they got married."

"And four years after that, we had you!" Shane exclaimed, tickling his four year old daughter.

Emma giggled but then frowned. "But why was Daddy dressed up like Santa and why did Mommy say Santa wasn't real?"

Mitchie smacked Amelia on the thigh and smiled. "Emma, I was going through a phase of non-belief. Santa is real, but he can't be a millions of malls at once, so he hires very special people to dress up like him and listen to children's wishes. Then the special helpers tell Santa what all the children want."

"Oh…So Daddy knows Santa Claus?"

Shane chuckled. "No honey, I retired a while ago. We got out of touch."

"Oh…I can still say my daddy knew Santa, right?"

"Of course you can, sweet pea."

Emma ran off to brag to her cousins, and Mitchie started playing with the red-gold ring on her finger. A smile played at her lips.

Shane smiled and took her hand, knowing what she was looking at.

The engraftment on her wedding band: _I Heart Santa Claus_

He looked down at his and smiled wider. His read: _Santa Claus_

"Love you, Mrs. Claus."

"Love you, Santa."

* * *

**a/n: Oh gosh, words cannot describe how much fun it was to write this! Writing the witchie Mitchie was entertaining cause I felt like I was writing Tess, but overall, I really enjoyed it! Review please!**


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